BEIJING -- China spent a total of 26.8 billion yuan ($4.4 billion) to support the innovation by small- and medium-sized enterprises between 1999 and 2013, the Ministry of Finance said on Oct 25, 2013.

Fiscal support has helped enhance innovation capability and contributed to industrial upgrading and restructuring, the ministry said in a statement.

In 1999, the government set up a special fund for encouraging the innovation of technology-intensive SMEs.

The special fund has been mainly used to support technological innovation, improve the environment for innovation and guide private capital to invest in SMEs that are in their initial stage, according to the statement.

In the past years, the fund has helped nurture a number of technology-intensive companies and enhance China's capability of scientific and technological innovation, the ministry said.

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the number of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises represent 99.7 percent of the total in China. SMEs provide more than 80 percent of jobs in cities.